visibly anonymous

at my workplace, i have a lady sitting next to me (as in the next cubicle) for the past 3 or 4 days – and i have no idea of who she is. i have heard her talk on the phone, have heard her name when someone else called her, i even unsuccessfully tried peeping to see what information was contained in the numerous piles of paper on her desk – but given that our 'cubicles' are bare open, there is little i could do.

i could of course turn around and ask her what her name is, whether she has just joined us, etc – but i feel funny doing that. so i walked over to our office admin person and whispered, "who is the person sitting at the desk next to me? new staff ah?" She whispered back, "I don't know, you know!"

phew! i wasn't the only one lacking information. but the fact that i had to ask the question in the first place made me wonder about my level of social skills. i don't consider myself an unsociable cave-woman. for the records, i have crossed the 100 mark in my list of friends on Facebook (an extremely modest figure, considering that the average friend-list on FB seems to border on 500; but hey, it shows i know some people). i am aware of their daily routines, their travel plans, their crises and their triumphs through their status updates. (and i must say its amazing as to how many people are willing to list their most personal of issues in that little space.)

funnily enough, i often feel that i 'know' a great deal about some people whom i have met only once in my entire life – and barely spoken to them.

come to think about it...*gasp* have i become so isolated by FB's illusory sense of 'keeping in touch' that i have become devoid of social interaction with strangers? its a wee bit scary, but it reminds me of some crazy net-addicts who cannot look or talk to people in front of them – they can only interact with people online.

in case you're waiting for an answer – no, i haven't reached such levels of isolation. but i should prep up my social skills a wee bit. and maybe leave a post-it for the lady-next-table listing my FB details and ask her to add me.